Miss Kim: Fri at J&J's Roadhouse and Blues Bar, 937 Woodward St, FW. 817-870-BEER.

The death of her mother, beloved Eastside blues chanteuse Lady Pearl, hit Kim Pierce hard. The two had always had what Pierce, a.k.a. Miss Kim, calls Òa special relationship,Ó and in the wake of her mother's passing -- from a heart attack, after performing at the now-defunct Swing Club on Evans Avenue -- it was difficult for Kim, the tall, limber blues-diva-in-training, to find the strength to take the stage. When she did, she always kept a framed portrait of Lady Pearl nearby.

There's good news for blues aficionados: Miss Kim is back, after overcoming some health problems of her own and sending a son off to the Navy. True, she hasn't yet found a regular performance venue like her mother had at the Swing Club, where performances by her mom's BTA Band -- led by Kim's uncle, guitarist Ray Reed -- often ran for four hours without a break, the only relief for the hardworking musicians coming when guests like Holland K. Smith, Paul Byrd, Johnny Moeller, Johnny Mack, James Hinkle, or Mitch Palmer sat in. But this weekend, she'll grace the stage at J&J's Roadhouse and Blues Bar, and next week, she'll continue her mother's tradition of performing at the annual Juneteenth festivities downtown.

If you haven't seen Miss Kim yet, you need to. She's an electrifying live performer, belting out the tunes while shimmying salaciously and performing acrobatic high kicks. She inherited a lot of her mother's repertoire of gutsy, low-down blues classics, but she also digs more modern R&B stylings (like Gladys Knight's ÒMidnight Train to GeorgiaÓ). One of the regrettable aspects of Lady Pearl's passing is the fact that she never released any recordings (although tapes of several live shows exist). Here's hoping that some enterprising local blues enthusiast will document one of Kim's performances with the BTA Band soon.